


Day 5: Dreaming Under Leo

by Fundelstein



Series: Cloti Fall Festival 2020 [5]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Final Heaven Discord, Just Friends, Music, Podfic Welcome, Stargazing, but not really...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27145631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fundelstein/pseuds/Fundelstein
Summary: Written for Day 5 of the Cloti Fall Festival.Prompt:Sometimes I look at the stars and try to find all the lights that forge my constellation and when I can’t find mine I look for yours.- WT
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Series: Cloti Fall Festival 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974253
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Day 5: Dreaming Under Leo

On a fine night in the middle of spring, Tifa strapped on a backpack and locked up the house. Her dad was working another big case. He wouldn't be back until morning. 

She crossed the street to the park and took her favorite route. She liked going on a set path. It helped her not feel so lost. Without a straight and narrow path, her inner thoughts tended to fly off into... unpleasant directions. She hoped Cloud would be there tonight. 

Tifa turned her eyes to the sky, looking up at the stars. For a moment, she was sure she could see the Big Dipper. He was the one who taught her how to find it. 

Of course, he'll be there. He'll want to be out on a night like this. Him and his telescope. Where no one else would bother him. He always said that stargazing inspired him.

Sure enough, she found him up on a small hill, sitting on a spread out blanket. He was huddled behind his tripod telescope, with a flashlight lantern sitting next to some books. His guitar case leaned against his bag. 

Tifa walked up and cleared her throat. "Cloud?" 

Cloud straightened up and craned his neck around. He stared at her for a few seconds before turning away. He shook his head.

"You shouldn't be here," he said. "You know your dad hates us hanging out  at night ."

"He's at the police station." Tifa dropped her backpack on the blanket and sat next to him. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Cloud sighed and let her be. Tifa dug into her backpack and handed him a ziploc bag as a peace offering. 

"Here, I baked some cookies."

He perked up and took it. "Thanks."

While he opened it and munched on a cookie, Tifa leaned close and tried to peer into the telescope lens. 

"Whatcha looking at?" she asked. 

Cloud scooted back to give her room. "Ursa Major." 

Tifa squinted at the image. It took her a moment to recognize that particular sequence of stars. She vaguely remembered five of them off the top of her head. 

"I made Dad buy me a telescope," she told him. "Got it sent through the mail."

Cloud snorted. "How'd ya manage that?"

She shrugged. "He didn't like it, but he couldn't say no. It  _is_ a productive hobby after all." 

He laughed. "Why didn't you bring it?"

Tifa moved away from the telescope and slid away. "It's a small deskstop one. Not the kind you take out of the house. I can see better through yours anyway." 

She'd also wanted to join him in the astronomy club, but she didn't have a death wish either. Only God knew how her Dad would react. 

Cloud finished the first cookie and went after a second one. "These are good. Bake 'em from scratch?"

"Yeah." She took out an apple. "I always do."

Just like her Mom taught her. 

"I tried to look for Taurus as soon as I got mine," she said, "but I just couldn't find it."

"You just missed it," he replied (with a mouth full of chocolate chip). "We're in the Northern Hemisphere, and so it only passes us from November to March. If you wanna find Taurus, and you're a newbie, you're better off looking in January." 

Tifa pouted and bit into her apple. "Darn." She'd really wanted to christian her telescope with her own constellation. "What about yours?"

"Leo?" he asked. Then he grinned. "This month's the perfect time to find that." 

Her draw dropped. Life was so unfair. 

"Where?" she demanded. 

Cloud put down the cookies and brushed his fingers against his shirt. He pushed himself back behind the telescope, peered through the lens, and skillfully tweaked the view. 

"Right there." He shifted out of the way again. She dropped the apple and bent down to take a peek. 

Leo was smaller than Taurus. It looked as much as a lion as Taurus looked like a bull. Whenever she saw the traced outline in a book, she couldn't help but think it resembled a floating duck. But still... 

"It's beautiful." 

When she turned away from the telescope, Cloud’ s eyes were locked on her. 

"Sure is."

Tifa chuckled and tried not to blush. But then, he took a deep, long breath and turned away with a frown. He chewed absently on edge of the cookie. Her mood deflated in seconds. She picked up her apple and tried to distract herself with the crunch. 

She couldn't stand the silence for long. "You sure have it all together, don't you?"

"Hmm?" 

"You and that music scholarship." She chewed another bite and swallowed hard. "You're really gonna be a musician?"

"Yeah... sure looks it." He took in a deep, shaky breath. "I almost can't believe it. Though, I wanna do more than that too. There's more money when it comes to, well, the business side of things. And it seems like a lot of fun too." 

"I see." Tifa clutched her apple and curled into a ball. "I used to be kinda worried, you know.  When we were kids, you wanted to be an astronaut."

"Why? What's wrong with that?"

She shrugged, rolling her neck. "If you did that, I'd probably never see you again." 

He snorted. "Ah, you'd be fine on your own."

Tifa shut her eyes tight. "No I wouldn't. I get really lost in my head sometimes. Like my mind's in a fog. But when you're with me, I don't feel like that at all."

That was something her dad couldn't (or refused) to understand. 

She turned an eye on Cloud. He was staring at her again, with wide-eyed shock. He looked away sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

"How am I supposed to take  _that_ ?"

Tifa tossed her head and sniffed. "Take it however you want. It's just how I feel."

"Close call then," he said. "I thought about it when I was little. But I don't need to go into space. We're already there."

"Huh?"

"Think about. Where is the planet right now?"

Tifa raised her brows. "Um... floating in space?"

"And where are we?"

"On the planet?"

Cloud pointed a scholarly finger to the sky. "If we're on the planet, we must be floating in space." 

Tifa blinked once or twice. Then she inhaled sharply. Cloud's thought processes could go into some weird directions too. Even if they made some sort of sense.

"Well, I'm not sure what I wanna be," she said.

Cloud glared at her. "What are you talking about? You're a great writer. And that game you helped design was pretty cool. Whole school's talking about it."

Tifa felt something wind tight inside her chest. "Yeah, but do you actually see me making a living off it? How am I supposed to know if I'll make the cut?"

He narrowed his eyes. "What's with  _you_ tonight?" 

She shook her head with a huff. "Just... Dad. He thinks I'm wasting my time. Says I should 'expand my horizons' for something more." 

He scoffed. "He also thinks I'm still gonna turn out just like my dad. A crook-in-the-making."

Tifa coughed and spluttered, wanting in protest... but couldn't think of anything in her dad's defense. He could be so pigheaded sometimes. How he crack ed most of his cases, she had no idea. 

Tifa rubbed her forehead to stave off a headache. "I don't get it."

He crammed the rest of the cookie in his mouth and dusted his hands. 

"Hate to break it to you, Teef, but some people? They only see what they  _want_ to see. Figured that out ages ago." He went back to the telescope and readjusted the lens again. "Though, I get why the scholarship doesn't mean a thing to him. My dad went to college too, and how did  _that_ turn out?" 

"You're not your dad!" she snapped. 

He nodded briefly and looked her dead in the eye. "Neither are you. So don't second guess yourself."

Tifa lost her breath, speechless. She forced an inhale, and as she exhaled, the tight knot in her chest slowly unwound itself. She buried her face against her legs.

"Someday, I wanna help start a video game company," she said. "Not one of those big time ones. An indie company."

"Sounds cool," he replied. 

"And when I do, you  have  to write music for my games."

"W-w-what?"

Tifa popped her head up. Cloud opened and closed his mouth like a dying fish. She brushed her cheek against her knee and giggled.

"Promise," she said. "If I start my own company, you'll come and do the music for me."

"I... wha—" He was still failing to speak.

"Pro-mise!" she sang. 

Cloud closed his eyes and groaned. "Okay,  okay . I promise."

"Good. That's good then."

Tifa finished her apple, all the way down to the core. She even ate the seeds. Then she tossed it into the grass for the ants. 

She uncurled herself and scooted close to him. "Play me a song, please."

He rolled his eyes. "Making a lot of demands tonight, eh?"

Tifa elbowed him. "It's a request."

"Alright then." Cloud pushed away from the telescope and  took the guitar out of its case . "While you're making requests, whatcha want me to play?"

"The new one you wrote the other day," she said. "I wanna see what kind  of game will fit with it."

He chuckled. "Already planning, are we?"

Tifa  blew a raspberry . "So are you."

Cloud hummed  as he slung on the guitar strap. "Touch é ." He grabbed his pick and plucked a couple of notes. "We'll see how it goes then."

And he played. 

**Author's Note:**

> I just realized I'm writing these fics waaaaaaaaay too early, so I'll be stopping until November.
> 
> Sorry... about that... 🙈😅


End file.
